If Putin had managed to conquer Ukraine in a few days as he seems to have intended, he might have gotten away with it. A quick fait accompli as happened in Crimea usually makes it difficult for a democracy to want to respond with any long term commitment and sacrifice. The fact that this did not happen now makes the decision to invade Ukraine an unmitigated blunder.
The world now sees exactly what makes Putin tick and the days of President Bush looking into Putin’s soul and finding good are long gone. The days of Obama thinking Russia is no longer an automatic threat are also long gone.
For the people of Ukraine, any warm feelings about Russia are also gone. Many realize that the war was the work of only one man, Putin, but the atrocities of Bucha, and all the other towns the Russians have attacked or occupied have delivered the message that the evil is more than just one man. Russian soldiers committed those atrocities, not Putin himself.
The end result is that the Ukraine is lost to Russia forever. When Finland and Sweden join NATO it will be yet another confirmation of Putin’s blunder. Then there is the USA and the military establishment who now have been given added reasons to build America’s military machine. They are seeing Ukraine as a way to seriously weaken Russia without loosing American lives in the process. The same goes for the Eastern part of Europe who know all too well about the Russians and have experienced Russia in the recent past.
All in all, Russia under Putin is headed for long term pain. Russian oil money well be used to rebuild Ukraine. The world will not accept any other result. That will keep Russia backward for a long time as the cost of rebuilding Ukraine increases with every shell the Russian army shoots into the country. What a waste! What an idiot Putin turned out to be!